Getting a celebrity to lend star power to your fundraiser or event can really boost takings, not to mention publicity. But capturing the attention of the rich and famous is notoriously difficult.
If you try to contact them through their agent, you’re unlikely to get a reply. ‘It’s hard to get around agents, because if it’s a free gig, they won’t get paid for it,’ says Kirsty Warwick, a charity PR and communications consultant, and former PTA chair. ‘Yes, you can pay celebrities a fee, but on principle we never have done. Messaging them on Twitter can work, but without a personal connection, such as the celebrity living in or having lived in your area, it’s harder.’
Do some internet research to find out which celebrities are local to you or have a local connection. Better still, find one with a personal interest in the subject of your particular fundraising campaign, such as literacy, art, music or sport.
‘It’s all about personal connections – so focus on getting to know your local community, who lives there, building those links,’ says Kirsty. ‘It’s the same with charities – for example, with cancer charities we’d ask people with a connection to cancer, or with deaf charities, people with hearing loss. It’s about building those relationships.’
Don’t forget to work your existing contacts. Is there anyone in your parent community who’s in the media or entertainment industries, or has a famous friend or family member? ‘We had a footballer attend our school fair who was a Chelsea and England star at the time,’ says Kirsty. ‘His brother’s kids went to the school, so he came along and signed a football for the raffle prize.’
And don’t forget, you have something to offer in return – after all, what celebrity doesn’t like to be photographed doing a good deed?
- Fundraising success stories
- Penalty shoot out success
- See also: From celebrity gigs to cross country races by our sister publication, FundEd
Sara Pascoe headlined our comedy night
We have a lot of children for whom English isn’t their first language, so the school needed to get its library up to scratch. I set up a crowdfunder and hopped on social media to get the word out, but I quickly came to the conclusion that we needed a good ‘hook’. We hit upon asking famous authors and celebrities what their favourite book was as a child, so we could add it to a new reading list for the pupils. We also asked them to donate to the crowdfunder and retweet the post. I must have tagged about 300 people on Twitter, which was a labour of love, but after a while the idea took on a life of its own and got a lot of traction. Some big names in publishing recommended books and contributed to the appeal, including Anthony Horowitz, Mary Beard, EL James and Lorraine Kelly. I love comedy, so I asked comedians who I knew had an interest in books. Actress and comedian Sara Pascoe has a podcast called the Weirdos Book Club, so I contacted her, and she kindly shared our tweet and tagged a lot of publishers, as well as donating to the crowdfunder. When she started following us, I direct messaged to thank her, and she replied offering to do a fundraising gig for us as well. I booked the local arts centre at a discounted rate, and she brought in other acts from the comedy circuit, including Charlie Baker from TalkSport. Comedians Vanessa Hammick, Hajar Woodland and Jonathan Elston completed the line-up. The comedy night has been the most successful crowdfunder we’ve done, and we’ve raised over £10,000.
Stephanie Mitchell, co-chair, Friends of Redlands, Reading (223 pupils)
Manchester United gave us Mary Earps’ gloves
My son and daughter are both into football, and we were at the Euros when the England women’s team beat Germany. When we got back, we saw the PTA was trying to raise money for a ‘daily mile’ running track at school, so I emailed Manchester United to see if they’d give us something to raffle. I told them what an inspiration the women’s team had been and how it had prompted one parent to launch a girls’ football club. I asked if the goalkeeper, Mary Earps, might sign a pair of gloves that the school could raffle, emphasising how – given the interest in women’s football – we felt it could help us raise a chunk of money. I made the email as simple and direct as possible. I couldn’t believe it when two weeks later I got a reply, saying the gloves were being posted that day. As well as promoting the raffle to the school community, we posted about it on some Lionesses’ fan groups on Facebook, which brought in hundreds more ticket sales. Because of Mary Earps’ involvement, the national press picked up on the story. We ended up making £1,500, which the school was really pleased with. If I was doing it again, I would make the whole process online, because my partner and I ended up filling in hundreds of tickets and texting photographs of them to people around the country!
Sue Briggs-Harris, vice chair, Tarporley Primary School PTA, Cheshire (280 pupils)
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